The Best Film Won

Well, now that the Academy Awards are over, I can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the best film won.  Not the best film of the year, but of the two films being touted as the “frontrunners” for this year’s Best Picture award, the better film won.

Of course, Avatar fan boys are having a conniption fit trying to figure out why the Academy would stiff their masterpiece.  The Hollywood Reporter ran a piece a few days ago ruminating over why Avatar lost Best Picture (as if the award was its to lose).  It’s likely explanations included anti-Cameron bias (since apparently members of the Academy have picked up on the fact that he’s a boorish lout with a huge ego), preferential voting systems, and the Academy’s view of Avatar as “commerce,” with the implication being, I suppose, that Avatar was just too commercially successful.  There’s very little in the article that suggests the actual reason The Hurt Locker came away with the grand prize.  And that is:  it was the superior movie.

Yeah, Avatar is commercially the most successful film of all time.  Dollars don’t make a movie great though.  They don’t even earn recognition for a film when it is great…just look at the Academy’s snub of The Dark Knight last year when its critical success surpassed most of the nominated films.  But Avatar wasn’t The Dark Knight.  It wasn’t even the Tim Burton Batman.  It was a one trick pony, a film that achieved success solely on the basis of superior visuals.  Such a film deserves to be recognized for it’s technical achievements, and it was.  It even got best cinematography, which no film that relies so completely on blue screen technology deserves.  But it wasn’t nominated in a single acting category, nor for its screenplay.  That’s because neither the acting, the story, or the dialogue were worthy of critical acclaim, and those, as much as compelling visuals, are the essence of a quality film.  Avatar isn’t a quality film.  It’s a three hour video game cut scene, cinematic eye candy that has as much substance as a Paris Hilton biography.

It’s a bit disturbing to read the comment section of some of these articles.  Some of them are doozies…people talking about the Hurt Locker will be forgotten in a week while Avatar will live on in the public mind for centuries.   If so, it speaks volumes about the decay of society in general and American culture in particular.  It’s time for a little bluntness.  It is possible, however distasteful you may find a film or performance, to acknowledge it’s worth and merit while also acknowledging that you don’t care for it.  I’ve conceded this in the past about films that I didn’t particularly care for but that I recognize have merit.  Adaptation comes to mind…I didn’t like it, but I recognize why it was critically acclaimed.  At the same time, I think it is possible to enjoy a film while admitting that it has little merit and is not that good.  I enjoy the Fantastic Four films, but I freely admit that they aren’t good movies.  Personal taste does not mean that the movie automatically has merit or lacks merit because you enjoyed it.

So it’s time for Avatar fanboys to admit that the movie sucked.  And that anyone who truly believes, in their heart of hearts, that it was the best film of this year, that its plot, dialogue, and performances were enough to elevate the film to the top of the cinematic list, is out of their minds and an idiot.  Its most notable achievement is letting studios know that audiences will shell out an extra $5 to see a movie in 3-D, so now we are being treated to a rash of 3-D films, from Alice in Wonderland, to Clash of the Titans, and probably the next Harry Potter film.   Fans of Avatar continually try to compare it’s snub to the original Star Wars in 1977, but there simply is no comparison to be made here.  Star Wars was groundbreaking in the way George Lucas was able to mix various elements together to make a compelling and intriguing story.  That is nothing like Avatar, which does borrow from various stories, but in no way offers an original or compelling take on them.

If you liked Avatar, fine.  I don’t understand why, but there is no accounting for taste.  That said, if you are one of the many fanboys crying in your milk about Avatar being snubbed, just know that the rest of us are laughing at you.

Oscar Nominated Shorts

I’ve now seen all the Oscar nominated shorts, both live action and animated.  Here’s a brief rundown on each, and which ones I liked best.

Live Action:

Joachim Back’s “The New Tenants”

This is about two gay men who have just moved into an apartment in a city ( I don’t believe it’s ever stated which one), and they are immediately plunged into one unlikely scenario after another.   It’s kind of a dark comedy, and their reaction to the progressively crazy situations is hilarious.  Overall, I thought this was the strongest of the live action films.  All the action takes place in their apartment.  I especially enjoyed the way the director opens the film.  The dialogue is clever, and the storyline is so impossibly absurd that you can’t help but laugh.

Gregg Helvey’s “Kavi”

This was about a young Indian boy who is caught in slavery due to debts that his father owes.  While the story is sympathetic, there is nothing that really makes this one stand out.  The film does do a good job of portraying the plight of the family, and the ending shot is very cool.  Otherwise, it was just kind of so-so.

Juanita Wilson’s “The Door”

This is about a Russian family who is forced to flee their home after a nuclear meltdown.  I can’t remember if it says explicitly, but it is clearly meant to reflect the post-Chernobyl fallout.  The father and mother agonize over the effects that it has on their small daughter.  A very somber, sad story, artfully done and well acted.

Luke Doolan’s “Miracle Fish”

A young boy who is victimized by bullies, and clearly comes from a poverty stricken family, finds himself alone in the school in the middle of the day.  He is subsequently plunged into a violent situation.  An interesting film, and certainly a somewhat unique one.  There are several nice touches.  I didn’t like it as well as several of the other films, but overall it was strong.

Patrik Eklund’s “Instead of Abracadabra”

A film that contained more wit and humor than in many feature length films, this short is about a somewhat immature 20 something aspiring magician who lives at home with his parents.  As he attempts to impress his beautiful neighbor next door, he goes from one mishap to the other.  An especially brilliant film, and one I could watch repeatedly.

Animated:

Fabrice O. Joubert’s “French Roast”

A snobbish upper class patron of a coffee shop finds himself in a bit of a bind when he realizes that he can’t pay for his order because he’s forgotten his wallet.  The ensuing results are full of levity and silliness.  While this was clever, it was my least favorite of the animated shorts.  It wasn’t that it was bad, but a few other “worthy contenders” not nominated were also shown, and I thought those were stronger entries.

Nicky Phelan’s “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”

This was a brilliant satirical take on an elderly woman’s version of the classic fairy tale.  Absolutely hilarious, extremely clever concept with excellent voice acting and witty dialogue.  This was a very strong entry indeed.

Javier Recio Gracia’s “Lady and the Reaper”

A roguishly handsome young doctor and the Grim Reaper go head to head when the Reaper comes to claim an old woman who longs to be reunited with her deceased husband.  Sounds like kind of an odd concept, but it was engaging and hilariously funny.  The doctor reminded me of Brom Bones in Disney’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”   This was a great short, very enjoyable.

Nick Park’s “Matter of Loaf and Death”

This was the longest of all the shorts, and it featured the return of beloved animated characters Wallace and Gromit.  If you haven’t seen Wallace and Gromit, you are missing out.  I recommend the full length film “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” which I found hilarious.  This time, they are running a bakery and someone is bumping off bakers.  The over-the-top antics and Gromit’s facial expressions will have you rolling.  A very strong entry and well worth a viewing.

Nicolas Schmerkin’s “Logorama”

This was actually a hyper-violent jab at corporations (and cliched action movies).   It’s a world where EVERYTHING is a logo…the characters include the Pringles men, Michelin men, the Jolly Green Giant, and a maniacal Ronald McDonald.  A lot of wit, and a lot of outlandish scenario’s.  Overall, an interesting concept.

And there you have it.  If I were to choose, I would definitely pick “The New Tenants” for the Live Action category, although “Instead of Abracadabra” was a very close second.  Both had a lot of wit, both contained clever concepts, and both were vastly more enjoyable than the other three.  For the Animated category, it would be a much harder choice.  I enjoyed all of the animated shorts, although if I had to go with one it would probably be “Granny O’Grimm” or “Lady and the Reaper.”  Hard to say though…I thought even the honorable mentions were well done.

Roger Ebert Makes the Case

Roger Ebert in his pre-Oscar predictions sums up (mostly) my feelings about Avatar.

“The Hurt Locker” and “Up in the Air” were the Best Picture favorites for much of the autumn, but then “Avatar” won the Golden Globe and (for Hollywood, much more importantly) passed “Titanic” to become the all-time box-office champion, and now I suppose it’s the front-runner. If it won, that will be a sad day. Yes, it’s a phenomenon and I loved the experience. But the best film? Not compared to those other titles, it isn’t. To be seen to advantage, it needs big-screen 3-D. A DVD viewing will remove much of its impact, leaving many home viewers asking, What was the big deal?

I don’t want to hate on Avatar too much, but I’ve seen people on Twitter, Facebook, and other social forums going crazy over this movie.  When it comes out on DVD and viewers realize that it doesn’t translate nearly as well from 3-D imagery on a giant screen to a 32″ TV screen, people are going to back track on how great they thought this movie was.

In regards to his other predictions, he was dead on with many of them, although he missed the boat on quite a few others.  I’ll cover some of the other categories when I get a chance.

The Awards Are Here

Once again, another Academy Award season, and once again, a lot of disappointments.  Unworthy films and performances were recognized despite their mediocrity, and worthy films and performances were overlooked despite their exceptional ism.  Why should we care, you ask?  Because actors and directors who win the Academy usually find themselves in high demand, and studios sometimes look at the success of Academy Award nominees for direction regarding the types of future films they should sink money into.  Obviously this isn’t always the case, and there are a lot more factors that go into that…the primary one being what’s making money at the box office.  But it’s ridiculous to ignore the fact that the Academy Awards are the most prestigious awards in cinema, and they are what future generations look to as benchmarks for what was considered good films or performances in any given year.

With that in mind, let’s look at the nominations.  As usual, there are some movies that I still haven’t seen, so for the most part, I’ll attempt to refrain from offering to much of an opinion, since at best it will be based on critics reviews and my impressions from clips or trailers I have seen.

First up is Best Picture.  This is the first time since 1943 the Academy has ten nominees instead of five, and that’s attributed to studios who wanted more mainstream films to get nominated, rather than the indie type, limited release films the Academy has favored over the last decade or so.  While I’m in favor of the five nominee system that was used last year, I have to say that overall I thought the Academy did a good job of nominating best picture contenders.

There are three Best Picture nominees I have yet to see.  They are Up, The Blind Side, and Precious.  Up, by all accounts, is a fantastic film, and only the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture (Beauty and the Beast was the other).  I’ve been anxious to see it anyway, so this only adds to my anticipation.  That said, I’m not a fan of allowing movies to be nominated in two Best Picture categories.  Up is probably a lock for Best Animated Film, so I’m not sure that I agree with it being nominated for Best Picture too.  Still, it has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning critics overwhelmingly loved it, and judging by the strong box office numbers, so did the public.  Precious was also a favorite among critics.  I’ve been a bit squeamish about watching it, because it deals with some very tough issues, although it’s gotten praise from nearly every venue, from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to Plugged In Online.  I’ll probably tackle it sometime in the next few weeks, but I have no doubt, judging by it’s reception, that it’s probably a powerful but painful movie.

That leaves The Blind Side.  It’s a long shot film, and frankly, I’m doubtful, not just judging by critical reception but by clips and the trailers, that this movie deserved to be nominated.  It looks like one step up from a Hallmark film.  I’m sure it’s good, but the Academies are supposed to be reserved for the best films of the year.  Does The Blind Side truly qualify?  Color me skeptical…but I’ll have to see it to judge for myself.

The Hurt Locker was an excellent film that was pretty much a lock for nomination.  It also has garnered a 98% fresh rating amongst critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, is only the fourth woman to be nominated for Best Director.  This was definitely one of the best films of the year.  No question it should have been nominated.

An Education was also one of the best films I’ve seen this year.  At 94%, it got great critical reception, and even though the average film goer probably hasn’t seen it, hopefully it will pique some interest and get people to check it out.  Carey Mulligan was fantastic, one of the best female performances of the year, and the rest of the cast was also good.  Glad to see this one get some recognition.

Ditto to A Serious Man.  In fact, it’s my opinion that this is the best film of the year.  The cast was amazing, and Michael Stahlberg was snubbed by not getting nominated for best actor.  As were the Coen brothers for not getting nominated for Best Director.  The movie has so many subtleties and nuances, and in my opinion was more thought provoking than any film I’ve seen this year.  Again, not something the average movie goer has seen, but hopefully people will give it a chance when it comes out.

Inglourious Basterds was a highly entertaining film that should definitely be listed in the top films of 2009.  The cast was excellent and the script was fantastic.  The dialogue was some of the best onscreen this year.

Up In the Air was getting Oscar talk before it even premiered, and after watching it this past weekend I can see why.  Jason Reitman, the director, does a fabulous job of bringing multi-dimensional characters to life on a backdrop that is all too familiar.  The script was superb, and the performances were great.  George Clooney gives one of his best performances to date, my favorite since O Brother Where Art Thou?  Reitman really knows something about capturing people looking like people…many movies actors feel like they are giving a performance, but Reitman’s characters seem real.  This time especially so, since some of the characters onscreen were real people who had lost their jobs, talking about the experience of being let go.  Great film.

District 9 was a surprise to me.  It would definitely have been in my top ten list for 2009.  But I’m shocked that the Academy, usually ignorant regarding movies like this, actually gave it the credit it deserves.  I doubt it will win, but I’m pleased that it was at least nominated.  Sharlto Copley should have been nominated for a Best Actor, but there were a lot of great male performances this year.

That leaves….yeah, you know it.  Avatar.  If you know me at all, you already know my thoughts on this overblown, overhyped pile of feces.  Look, I don’t deny that visually it’s a fantastic movie.  But a movie is more than just visuals….if that’s all it takes to make a great movie, then 2012 should have been nominated.  I think it’s telling that Avatar was shut out of any of the screenplay or actor awards.  That’s because there was nothing original about the story, nothing exceptional about the cast.  Overall, it was nothing more than any other CGI bloated blockbuster, admittedly fun to look at but lacking any real merit other than it’s technical achievements.  I sincerely hope that Hollywood (and apparently, the American public’s) obsession with James Cameron’s ability to make mediocrity look good doesn’t result in Avatar going home with the top prize in cinema this year.  Of the seven movies I’ve seen this year, the other six were all FAR superior to Avatar in terms of overall quality, and I have to believe that at the least, Precious and Up are as well.  My vote, were I an Academy member, would be for A Serious Man.   My guess, however, is that it will come down to a race between The Hurt Locker and Avatar.  I can only hope that Hollywood’s sudden urge to appeal to the teeming masses doesn’t allow them to vote in the lesser of the two.

The Young Victoria

A

Victoria is years away from becoming the queen so powerful that she has a whole era named after her.  In fact, she’s so powerless when we first meet her that her mother insists that she be scrutinized and managed at all times, from which books she can read to never being allowed to walk down the staircase by herself.  She is the heir to the throne of England, her childless uncle being the reigning monarch, and she has powerful enemies.  Should her uncle die early, she will be pressured on all sides to turn her power over to a regent who can rule in her stead until she is old enough.

And in fact, her life seems to her nothing but a pawn in a giant game of chess, where she is manipulated by everyone in a struggle for power.  And she feels powerless to prevent it, until the day she meets young prince Albert, the nephew of king Leopold of Belgium, who himself is being groomed by his uncle to marry Victoria.  When she confesses how she feels like a chess piece used by those in charge, he advises her to learn to play the game better than they do.  “Or to find a husband who can play it for me?” she asks.  He responds, “Not for you.  With you.”

What’s Good

I truly loved everything about this movie, but I’ll start with the strongest part, which is the performance of the cast.  This is Emily Blunt’s finest performance yet, and she leads the way with a truly magnificent and nuanced performance as one of Britain’s most famous monarchs.  While some performances are judged by the hyper emotional scenes that films sometimes thrive on, Blunt’s strength is in the ordinary moments when she brings a classic historical figure to life.  The “monarch wishing to be free” has been done many times before, but rarely with the grace and ease that Blunt commands.

The rest of the cast is equally strong.  Rupert Friend as young Prince Albert is fantastic, bringing life and depth to the character.  You feel for his character as he grows to love Victoria, and he plays the role with equal parts restraint and ferocity.  Paul Bettany has always been good, but his performance here is so strong you hardly recognize him as Paul Bettany.  The rest of the cast is rounded out with great performances from Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong, and Jim Broadbent, among others, and all do a tremendous job in their roles.

The script is engaging, the dialogue believable and witty where it needs to be, emotional when it needs to be, and consistent throughout.  The film is shot in a pretty traditional manner, but looks good.  Jean Marc-Vallee gets the most out of his cast and crew.

What’s Not

Some critics have complained that the story is plodding.  I didn’t find this to be so at all.  It is a rather traditional biopic, and the tale of a young royal being used as a pawn by other powers isn’t unique, but it’s so well done here that I never found myself disengaged from the story at all.  Everything clicks and the chemistry between the two leads is so compelling I found it hard to look away.

I guess that’s my way of saying I didn’t really have too much to complain about.

As the Credits Roll…

This isn’t the best movie I’ve seen this year, but it’s definitely near the top.  In a period when crappy rom-com’s dominate the screen, this year has seen two of the more compelling on screen romances that I’ve seen in a long time.  Bright Star and The Young Victoria are both great movies with brilliant performances and wonderful cast chemistry, and they deserve to be separated from the crowd and recognized for their distinctiveness.